an ally of Alfonso's rival, Alfonso VI of Castile. More probably the Normans just accomplished too little to be noticed, or were perhaps sent back home without encountering any Muslims because their services were not need at the time, when Alfonso the Battler had an alliance with the taifa (faction-kingdom) of Zaragoza. Perhaps the 'Aragonese plot' originated as a rumour with dissatisfied returning Normans. After the death of his wife, eldest son and two of his nephews in the wreck of the White Ship (1120), Rotrou returned to Spain. His parting may have been an act of penitence (perhaps he believed his sins had brought on the tragedy), or perhaps a public demonstration of grieving, since his wife was a daughter of the king, who had also lost his heir, William Adelin, in the wreck. According to the Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña, Rotrou took part in the conquests of Zaragoza (1118) and Tudela (1119), but this account has been shown to be apocryphal. Many French barons can be connected with the expedition against Zaragoza, but although his Anales de la Corona de Aragón name Rotrou as fighting under Alfonso of Aragon on several occasions, Jerónimo Zurita does not mention him by name when recording the call for transpyrenean assistance put out by the Battler. Likewise Rotrou is attested fighting for Henry I in Normandy in 1119 and so could not have had any hand in the conquest of Tudela, although the Chronicle of San Juan makes him out to be the chief conqueror and the first and independent ruler of the town. Neither is he mentioned in the charter of surrender of Tudela. Rule of Tudela Rotrou was still in Normandy in 1120 when he signed the reconfirmation act of the abbey of Arcisses. Since he received land in Zaragoza after the conquest, it might be assumed that he sent either money or men to assist in the enterprise. He did not sign the city's fueros, which the nobles of southern France who had participated in its conquest did. He had arrived in Aragon by 1123, perhaps as early as 1121. His first participation was probably in the campaign against Lleida. An Aragonese charter dating to April 1123 refers to Rotrou as "count in Tudela", although it does not specifically refer to him as the ruler of the place. The Norman lord Robert Burdet, who later held